Dark Downeast - The Murder of Raymond "Butch" Weed (Maine)

Episode Date: July 10, 2023

MAINE, 2003: On the night of December 23, 2003, two friends dropping off Christmas gifts at the home of 40-year old Raymond “Butch” Weed were shocked to find that their friend, a well-known and beloved member of the Wilton, Maine community, was dead. Sometime between his regular visit to his favorite hangout in downtown Wilton and returning home just a quarter mile away on Main Street, an unknown assailant entered Butch’s home and stole his life.To this day, a suspect has never been apprehended, and Maine State Police have remained tightlipped about any details they’ve learned over the course of a nearly 20 year investigation. Butch’s family members hold out hope that they won’t have to wait much longer to know who killed their brother, and finally see justice handed down to the person or persons responsible.This case has been requested dozens of times by Dark Downeast listeners. The emails and DMs I’ve received over the last two years all spoke highly of the man at the center of the case, but a few of those messages also suggested that there might be more to the case than meets the eye. Wilton, Maine is a small town, and for such a high profile case to go unsolved this long, rumors are rampant.If you have information regarding this case, please contact the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit - South at [phone] x9 or toll free at 1-800-452-4664. You may also report information about this crime using the leave a tip form. View source material and photos for this episode at darkdowneast.com/butchweed Dark Downeast is an audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.Follow @darkdowneast on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTokTo suggest a case visit darkdowneast.com/submit-case

On the night of December 23rd, 2003, two friends dropping off Christmas gifts at the home of 40-year-old Raymond Butch Weed were shocked to find their friend, a well-known and beloved member of the Wilton, Maine community, dead. Sometime between his regular visit to his favorite hangout in downtown Wilton and returning home just a quarter mile away on Main Street, an unknown assailant entered Butch's home and stole his life. To this day, a suspect has never been apprehended, and Maine State Police have remained tight-lipped about any details they've learned over the course of a nearly 20-year investigation. Butch's family members hold out hope that they won't have to wait much longer to know who killed their brother and finally see justice handed down to the person or persons responsible. This case has been requested dozens of times by Dark Down East listeners. The emails and DMs I've received over the last two years have all spoken highly of the man at the center of the

case, but a few of those messages also suggested that there might be more to the case than meets the eye. Wilton, Maine is a small town, and for such a high-profile case to go unsolved this long, rumors are rampant. I'm Kylie Lowe, and this is the unsolved case of Raymond Butch Weed on Dark Down East. Raymond Weed, better known as Butch to his friends and Butchie to his siblings, was born in Connecticut, the middle child of five kids.

He was a deeply devoted family man, and he gave his all to everything he did, whether it was showing up for his family whenever they needed him, helping out his friends and neighbors, skillfully building and renovating the homes of his clients, or volunteering his time for his community. Though he didn't move to Wilton, Maine until 1985, Butch Weed became part of the fabric of the town, and it seemed everyone in Wilton knew Butch. Later, even police would remark at just how renowned Butch truly was. Butch loved kids and dreamed of having his own someday.

Until then, his wife had a son from a previous relationship when they got married, and Butch helped raise him. Butch was also a very present and caring uncle. Newspaper clippings include numerous photos of Butch holding babies, smiling gently as he cradled his brand new nieces and nephews against his chest. Around 2001, Butch and his wife divorced. It was a challenging time, but he leaned on his faith and found happiness in his family, and he stayed busy with his thriving business. As reported by Lisa Shmulecki in her piece Homicide in a Small Town

published in the Sun Journal, Butch struggled with more traditional schooling as a teenager, and so he attended a technical school in the afternoons where he learned carpentry. That afternoon program turned into Butch's career. He worked for a few other construction companies out of state and in Maine before breaking out on his own. Butch opened New Horizons Builders in Wilton, and he and his crew of six full-time employees worked on big new builds and renovations in Franklin County. Wilton town manager Richard P. Davis told Larry Gerard for the Morning Sentinel that Butch was a very busy, hands-on guy with a lot of projects going on. But even though his business stayed steady, he was a very involved person in his community and loved lending a hand whenever someone needed it. He attended Farmington Baptist Church, where he also taught Sunday school, and he coached Little League

football. Davis said, quote, he was one of the nicest people I ever met, end quote. Butch was a member of the Lions Club and was always a big part of the club's yard sales as well as the blueberry pancake breakfast for the local blueberry festival. A fellow member of the Lions Club, State Representative Thomas Saviello, told the Morning Sentinel, quote, in my experience, he wanted to help the community in every way he could, end quote. Butch also plowed driveways in the winter. Having a reliable snowplow guy in Maine is crucial, and many of the driveways he did for free. Lisa Shmielecki wrote in her piece, Homicide in a

Small Town that Butch's brother, Bill Weed, recalled a conversation one night on the phone that winter when Butch had just finished a 10-hour day on the road clearing snow from over 40 driveways. He was clearly exhausted, but Bill told Butch, just think of all the money you'll be taking to the bank. Butch responded, If I can even remember what driveways I did, it's not like I bill them. One of those pro bono driveways was Butch's neighbor, Calvin. According to Samantha DePoy's reporting for the Lewiston Sun-Journal, Calvin had lived on Main Street in Wilton since 1948,

and he explained that before Butch Weed moved into the house across the street from him, it was in severe disrepair. Butch got it fixed up. The white cape had a big front porch with attractive pillars and a two-car garage with a dormered roof. The house also served as Butch's office for New Horizons builders. When you spend enough time and put down roots in your small main town or any small town, you no doubt find yourself a regular at a local establishment. An Associated Press report in the Portland Press-Herald noted that Butch was a regular at Mario's of Wilton, a now-closed pizza joint on Main Street in downtown.

Mario's also served breakfast, and Butch was known to stop in every single day for coffee, decaf, and a chocolate-glazed donut. As reported by Lisa Shmielecki, on the morning of December 23, 2003, perhaps after his routine coffee and donut, Butch talked to his sister Donna on the phone. Butch was crazy about his nieces and nephews, including Donna's 16-year-old, and he couldn't wait for the kids to see all the gifts he got them for Christmas. Donna smiled on the other end of the line at her brother's excitement, and then reminded Butchie, as she called him, to drop off donuts for their mother on Christmas morning. It would be the first Christmas since their father passed away, and it would be tough on all of them. Of course, Butch assured his sister, he'd be at mom's house by 9 a.m. on Christmas Day. On the night of December 23rd, 2003, Butch returned to Mario's at the end of his workday

to catch up with some friends. Everything seemed normal, according to Tammy Green, who often waited on Butch at Mario's. There was nothing alarming or unusual about his mood. Butch left the pizzeria by 5 p.m. His house was less than a quarter mile away from Mario's, just down Main Street. Police estimated that Butch arrived home sometime after 5 p.m. Less than three hours later, Butch Weed was dead. Two of Butch Weed's friends pulled into the driveway of his white cape-style home and gathered up the gifts they'd brought over for the holiday. It was just about 7.30 on December 23rd, 2003, and it was dark on Main Street. The two friends stepped inside, gifts tucked under their arms, expecting Butch to greet them with a smile and a warm hello, or at least find him at his desk pouring over some paperwork before he clocked out for the evening.

But Butch didn't meet them at the door. Instead, the friends were the first to see the terrible scene inside Butch Weed's home. According to Samantha C. DuPois reporting for the Lewiston Sun-Journal, the friends immediately called 911, and local authorities from Wilton were first to respond to the scene. As is procedure, those first responders checked for signs of life but found none, and then checked the scene to make sure nobody else was hurt and that an assailant wasn't still in the house. After securing the house, they went back outside and waited for Maine State Police. Maine State Police arrived shortly after, and again, as is procedure in all Maine cities and towns except Portland and Bangor,

the state authorities led the investigation in Wilton, with Sgt. Walter Gribb at the helm. Despite the holiday, officials were at the scene getting it processed and collecting evidence before the sun rose on Christmas Eve morning. Butch Weed's body was transported to Augusta for an autopsy, expected to be completed the same day. Maine State Police were tight-lipped about what they were learning as the investigation began in full force. Initial reports state that police believed Butch was killed sometime between 5.30 p.m. and 7 p.m., after he left Mario's and before friends discovered his body near the entrance of his office. But officials weren't saying how Butch died,

and state police asked the medical examiner's office to withhold the details of his cause of death from the public. Something about how Butch died seemed to be a crucial piece of information, and investigators didn't want to take any chances by revealing his cause of death and potentially foiling their efforts to track down a suspect. However, state police spokesman Steve McCausland did tell Sun Journal writer Samantha C. DePoy, quote, it is obvious to us this is an apparent homicide, end quote.

The first 24 to 48 hours of a homicide investigation are critical. However, Steve McCausland told the Sun Journal that investigators were turned home on Christmas Eve to be with their families, something Butch Weed would never get to do. McCausland reassured the public that the efforts were ongoing, though, saying on December 26, quote, Developing a victim profile of Butch Weed

and retracing his steps on December 23rd was crucial to starting the investigation off on the right foot. So detectives focused primarily on interviews. Police canvassed the neighborhood in the following days, hoping to find a neighbor or a passerby who'd seen something important and they were just waiting to be asked about it.

Butch's house was right on Main Street, completely visible from the road, and it was typically a busy street during after-work hours. Though it was late December and definitely dusky, if not totally dark by 5.30pm on the night of his murder, maybe someone saw headlights from an unknown car in the driveway or heard an altercation coming from Butch's house. Though Butch was reportedly well-liked and a bit of a local celebrity, maybe family or friends could speak to the pieces of Butch's life that weren't so well-known and point the investigation to a possible suspect early on. All of Butch's employees were expected to be questioned, along with anyone who saw him the day and night before he was killed,

along with his family members. Six days into the investigation, state police expanded their interview pool, setting up a roadblock in front of Butch's home on Main Street. They stopped drivers between the hours of 4 and 7 p.m. to ask if they'd passed through that area the previous week on the night of December 23rd. Detective Jeffrey Smith of the Maine State Police Criminal Investigation Division explained the strategy behind a roadblock to Betty Jesperson of the Morning Sentinel, saying, quote, people are creatures of habit. Many drive down this street on their way home every day, and it's possible someone saw something, end quote. Nearly a week after his body was discovered, state police had interviewed upwards of a hundred people,

friends, employees, neighbors, clients, family, and beyond. But they had no new developments to share. Butch Weed's family began making funeral arrangements for their brother and son as the investigation continued. Butch Weed was laid to rest on New Year's Eve. It wasn't at all how his family planned to welcome the new year, with the loss of a second immediate family member within the same 12 months. The heartbreak was made even heavier for the family, knowing that whoever did this to Butch was still out there. A week later, and still no arrests, not even a sign that the investigation was closing in on any suspects or persons of interest. But state police spokesperson Steve McCausland assured the Weed family and the public, quote, will be there as long as it takes to resolve this, end quote.

Wilton, Maine is a small town. Just over 4,100 people lived there in the early 2000s, and Raymond Butch Weed was easily one of the most well-known members of that population. So when he turned up murdered in his own home on the night before Christmas Eve in 2003, people started talking. Maine State Police stayed quiet as the investigation carried on into the new year, revealing little beyond the date, time frame, and manner of death in Butch's case. But as people in town kept talking and the rumors got louder,

officials decided it was time to confirm at least one of those rumors. According to the Lewiston Sun-Journal, Steve McCausland announced on January 6, 2004, quote, we can confirm that this was a shooting death, end quote. Police didn't follow it up with any other details. They wouldn't speak to whether they suspected a random stranger or if the killer knew Butch. If the shooter was someone in town, that person was still out there, and the town was understandably nervous.

The only antidote for their fears was apparently chatter. The conversation at Butch's very own hangout fed into the speculation about what happened to him. An employee at Mario's of Wilton told Lisa Shmelecki, quote, people just think that he made somebody mad, real mad. The employee continued, I've even heard it was a professional hit, end quote. But it was just speculation. Around the same time that police revealed Butch had, in fact, been shot, just as the rumors had said, a dive team was reportedly searching a body of water near Butch's home. Samantha DePuy reported that state police wouldn't say which body of water, but several were located near Butch's house, including Wilson Stream and Wilson Pond, or often referred to as Wilson Lake.

Months passed. If anything came of that waterway search, again, Maine State Police were holding that information close to their vests. Three months later, Butch Weed's killing was still unsolved. Police revealed no suspect, no motive, no murder weapon, and unlike the rampant rumor mill, it seemed on the outside of things that activity in the case was slowing down. In March of 2004, State Police Sergeant Walter Gribb spoke to the Sun-Journal, sharing why the case had proved to be a difficult one to investigate. Quote,

This has been and continues to be a tough case, in part because there are so many motives, but no one motive is coming to the surface. End quote. In an interview with the Sun-Journal in 2004, Rachel theorized that robbery could have been the motive for his murder. She disclosed that Butch's house had less cash in it than they would have expected him to keep there. Meanwhile, Sergeant Gribb acknowledged that it was possible someone shot Butch during the commission of a robbery,

but said that other motives are just as viable, too. Butch's friend and fellow member of the Lions Club, Bernal Allen, told the Sun-Journal, We all hope they find out who did it. We've all heard lots of rumors, but nothing concrete. We sure are going to miss him. It's a very sad thing. End quote. Butchie's murder wasn't just the death of a brother, a son, and a beloved figure in the

small town of Wilton, Maine. It was the dismantling of a close family unit. Before Butchie's tragic death, all but one of the Weed immediate family members lived within a 15-minute drive from one another. But reminders of their lost brother were all over town. It was a lot to shoulder each and every day, knowing his killer was still out there, possibly among them at the grocery store, maybe even sitting beside them at Mario's of Wilton. Butch's sister Rachel told Samantha DePoy of the Sun Journal in March of 2004, quote, it's not that I want to move, it's just that I can't stay. And it's hard because I don't really think my brother would want me to leave.

End quote. The siblings all began to move away from the Wilton area, looking for a fresh start and a place to rebuild their lives after such a devastating loss. Rachel explained to a Sun Journal reporter, quote, They didn't just take his life. They took all of ours. We were not only a family, we were all friends, and that's gone now. It's torn our family apart. End quote. In early April of 2004, the activity on Butch Weed's case picked up again.

Eight state police investigators returned to Wilton, as well as the neighboring towns of Jay, Turner, Livermore, and Farmington, in what the Sun-Journal referred to as a coordinated interviewing blitz. About 25 people were interviewed in one day, at least a few of them speaking to police for the first time. However encouraging it was for the family and the town to see the investigators returning to Franklin County, the effort did not progress the case as far as they'd hoped. Sergeant Walter Gribb told the Sun-Journal, quote, We're no closer today than we were a month ago to knowing who did this, end quote.

Sergeant Gribb did not speak optimistically when evaluating the case for the media. He was more pragmatic, as he pointed out that statistically speaking, when detectives can't identify a suspect within the first few days of an investigation, the chances of ever making an arrest decline sharply. That wasn't going to change their efforts, though. Quote, It is easy to look at this case and think that we'll never figure it out. I don't make promises, but I do know we will never give up and we will keep working on it.

End quote. Time can sometimes be a benefit to unsolved cases, too. As Gribb explained, and as we've heard time and time again in long-standing open cases, months and years can wear away at a previously held loyalty. Resentment can brew, a marriage may fail, friends might have a falling out, and the deterioration of a relationship could be the catalyst for new info to surface. By June of 2004, Butch Weed's family was still heartbroken and impatient for answers, so they announced a $10,000 reward, hoping the money would coax anyone withholding key details out of hiding much more quickly than just letting the time pass

and hope someone was ready to talk. In an email statement to Donna Perry of the Sun-Journal, Butch's brother Bill Weed said, Given the six-month anniversary of the murder is approaching, we are increasingly frustrated and concerned that the crime has not been solved. There does not appear to be even any significant leads. The family would like to somehow reignite the case by getting the community involved, and we think that offering a reward is a good first step.

End quote. The family hung posters around Wilton and surrounding towns listing the state police tip line, but also what appears to be a privately managed email address and a PO box. Butch's sister explained that they wanted to give people options to share what they knew anonymously. Rachel said to the Sun Journal at the time, quote, I just pray that someone out there knows something and takes this opportunity to come forth and tell us or the Rachel said to the Sun-Journal at the time, Within a week, the reward did get people talking, and the phone at the Maine State Police Criminal Investigation Division started ringing. By June 24, 2004, Maine State Police had received

several new pieces of information as a result of the tip line and reward offered by Butch's family. Bill Weed told Betty Jesperson of the Morning Sentinel that police were following up on the leads that came in. He also said that to ensure everything possible was being done to figure out who killed his brother, the Weed family planned to hire a private detective to look into the case.

More than a month passed, and Sergeant Gribb assured the public that Maine State Police were still working on the case, still fielding calls that came in from the tip line, and still following up on those leads. It wasn't going to be a quick process. At that point, it had been more than half a year since Butch was gunned down in his own home. That home went on the market and was sale pending in July of 2004. It would be fall before the town of Wilton

saw any signs of activity in Butch's case. On a cold Monday in November 2004, a Maine State Police dive team took to the waters at the outlet of Wilson Pond. Donna Perry reported for the Sun-Journal that divers searched the waterway between the Bass-Wilson Building parking lot and Main Street in Wilton. Sergeant Gribb said that it wasn't the first time a search had been conducted in the same area. Though encouraging, once again, police had nothing new to report from the underwater search. The one-year anniversary of Butch's death approached, and his family wasn't going to let it pass by without bringing attention to their brother and

son's unsolved murder in a big way. The $10,000 reward for information was increased to $25,000, and they planned a candlelight vigil in Butch's honor on December 23, 2004. The vigil was widely attended despite the rainy December weather. A 16-year-old girl sang a Leanne Rimes song called Please Remember, her voice catching on the emotional lyrics. She fought off her tears through the melody. The girl had known Butch Weed when he was alive. Her mother, a woman named Michelle Wilson, was Butch's girlfriend at the time of his death. She is described as his loving companion in Butch's obituary. A number of speakers told their favorite stories and shared memories of Butch, including his brother Bill,

who was up from Maryland for the event. Others directed their words at the killer, still out there a whole year later. John Tribucci, Butch's brother-in-law, was stern as he spoke. Quote, you've eluded justice, but you're going to slip up. End quote. One thing that surprised me researching the case of Raymond Butch Weed was the amount of coverage his murder received in the months and years following his death. Oftentimes, when police don't reveal any new information or give the media any headline-worthy updates, the articles and stories drop off. But not for Butch Weed. Article after article was published throughout 2004 and 2005, even when Sergeant Walter Gribb was giving writers absolutely nothing to work with.

I feel like it's a testament to just how big of a deal this case was to Wilton and the greater Franklin County area. In the Sun Journal on February 11, 2005, Gribb is quoted saying, There is nothing new to report in terms of what can be publicly disclosed. The rest of the article rehashed the known details, that Butch was shot in his home on December 23, 2003, that he was a well-known and well-liked business owner,

and that there was still a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of his killer. Though Maine State Police led the investigation, Wilton's new police chief Wayne Gallant chimed in, saying, quote, we will do anything possible to solve and resolve the case, end quote. The article is accompanied by a photo of Butch, the same one that was always used to depict him, and it is three times as big as the column of text itself. He has a pen tucked behind one ear. His face is serious.

Butch's light eyes are piercing and he is looking into the camera in such a way that no matter what angle you view the photo, he seems to be making eye contact. I have to wonder if the person responsible for his death ever caught a glimpse of Butch's photo in the paper. A black and white reminder of what they did, of the life that they stole. Words of state police spokesperson Steve McCausland from the earliest days of the investigation echoed in

everyone's ears. We'll be there as long as it takes to resolve this, he had said. But it was a promise that Maine State Police couldn't reasonably see through. No one was expecting Bushweed's case to go weeks, months, years, and now nearly two decades unsolved. Not in a small town like Wilton. Not by a man who was so revered by everyone who knew him. But maybe not everyone liked him, not the person who pulled the trigger you could assume, but who is that person?

To this day, police are still searching for the answer to that all-important question, and people are still talking about what they think happened to Raymond Butch Weed. Some of those theories landed in the Dark Down East email inbox. The murder of Butch Weed was not the first homicide in Wilton, Maine, and was actually one of several in the 10 years before. Wilton Police Chief at the time, James Parker, told Betty Jesperson of the Morning Sentinel in December 2003, quote,

For a small town like Wilton, with a population of 4,420, we do seem to have more per capita than other towns, end quote. The Morning Sentinel listed off seven homicidal deaths in Wilton since 1996. The circumstances of the cases varied, and none mirrored the case of Butch Weed in the slightest. Police weren't drawing any connections between Butch's murder and the town's other homicides, and that wasn't a leading theory among the locals either. In some of the emails I received, residents of the area suggested there was a bigger conspiracy surrounding Butch Weed's death and a possible cover-up by police. I don't want to feed into the rumor mill, but this thread of a theory just won't go away. Each year for the last several years,

Maine State Police have posted on their official Facebook page about Butch Weed's murder on the anniversary of his death, as they do with nearly every other unsolved homicide and missing persons case. The comment thread of the posts about Butch are equal parts support for his family, condolences for their loss, and then unfettered commentary echoing this police cover-up theory. However, police at both the local and state level addressed this rumor years ago, during the earliest phase of the investigation. A Sun Journal article by

Samantha DePuy titled, Police, Cop Not Linked to Murder, discusses the rumor that, quote, took off like wildfire in March of 2004. State Police Sergeant Walter Gribbs said that one morning his phone started ringing off the hook with people calling to see if an arrest had been made in the Butchweed case, because that was the talk around town. The callers also said they heard a Wilton Police Department officer was in custody. Sergeant Gribbs said, quote, There is no truth to that. I don't know how this one got started. End quote. He went on to say that the officer the rumor referred to was not even a suspect, nor were any other Wilton officers or their family members.

Police Chief in Wilton at the time, James Parker, was disheartened by the rumors and told the Sun-Journal that all the talking behind their backs had the family of the officer in question very upset. State Police Spokesperson Steve McCausland further dispelled the rumor, saying that it took on a life of its own and became a bit of a distraction for detectives, but their focus on the investigation remained strong. Chief Parker got the last word in, saying, quote, we want this case to be solved, but spreading rumors around about my department isn't going to do any good, end quote.

There's another interesting layer of the story surrounding the Wilton Police Department. One year later, in March of 2005, the Maine Chiefs of Police Association released a report resulting from an investigation into the Wilton Police Department's conduct. At the time the report was issued, new police chief Wayne Gallant had held the position for just six weeks, having taken over for James Parker just after the beginning of the year. The report was critical of the department, to put it lightly. The findings, summarized by Jody Housen for the Sun-Journal, noted, A lack of community trust, significant inadequacies in reporting, documentation, and filing, dirty and unhealthy conditions in the public safety building, poor departmental morale, including an every-man-for-himself

atmosphere, questionable practices in crime investigation and federally mandated reporting, inconsistent policies and procedures, and insufficient training opportunities for officers. The report also stated from the authors, quote, enlightened law enforcement administrators accept as a basic tenet of their profession the statement that the police should be a part of the community and not apart from it. It was apparent that the department is lacking considerably in this philosophy. From a layperson's perspective, that's me, the report certainly points to some incompetencies within the Wilton Police Department at that time. But remember, even though Wilton PD were first on the scene and assisted state authorities,

Maine State Police no doubt led the investigation into Butch Weed's homicide. State Police Spokesperson Steve McCausland addressed the report and those numerous issues within the Wilton PD, saying that the departmental problems did not impact the Butch Wheat investigation. The new police chief at the time, Wayne Gallant, pledged his commitment to improving the police department, citing several initiatives to start immediately that he hoped would improve the community's view

of the local PD. A side note that deserves mention. Two years later, Wayne Gallant left his post at Wilton PD and became the Oxford County Sheriff. Ten years after that, in 2017, Wayne Gallant was investigated for allegations of sending sexually explicit photographs of himself in uniform to a deputy's girlfriend and soliciting sex from employees, allegedly threatening to fire a deputy if his advances were rejected. Portland news station WGME obtained the photos in question and Gallant did not deny sending them. He did, however, deny the accusations of sexual advances

and propositioning employees. He resigned amid the scandal in December of that year and was the subject of an FBI investigation. So, there's that. You know, it's not really surprising that the town of Wilton filled in the blanks with their own theories about what happened to Butch Weed. An unsolved murder in a small town is not only unsettling, like a dissonant chord at the end of a song, it's unsatisfying. People

want to speculate and draw their own conclusions with the limited public information they have so they can file the story away in their brains with a distinct beginning, middle, and end. But the rumors were, and continue to be, harmful to Butch's family. Because every time police use their time and resources to run down a rumor concocted from nothing but speculation, it could distract from pursuing leads that are connected to the real truth about what happened to Butch Weed. I reached out to Butch Weed's sister, Rachel, on social media. We chatted back and forth over the course of a few days, and we planned to talk on the phone, and she agreed to have a conversation recorded for the podcast. But

ultimately, the emotional toll of speaking about her brother even after all this time was a lot for her to bear, and we weren't able to make that interview happen. But she knows I planned to release this episode, and she told me she was glad to know that he has not been forgotten, not only by the people that he loved, but people that didn't even know him. It was clear from Rachel's messages to me that the loss of Butch still weighs heavily on her each and every day. She said, quote, you're driving down the highway 65 miles an hour and you hit a brick wall. Every emotion comes back to you tenfold. She continued, it may be 20 years, but the pain is still just like yesterday. I do appreciate your time and I am so happy that people have not forgotten about Butch and his story. Butch was my big brother and he was so very proud to tell everyone he knew that I was his baby

sister. My heart breaks every day for the loss ofJournal that a fairly big tip came in that February, and Butch's brother Bill passed it on to state police. State Police Lieutenant Mark Holmquist was commander of the Southern Unit at the time, and he said that Butch's case is one that they regularly received tips about, and they continued to follow up on new information that came in. But this year, 2023, will mark 20 years since Butch Weed was shot dead in his own home, and it seems investigators are no closer to answers. Officials originally on the case have since moved into different positions or left the force entirely.

Wilton has seen numerous new police chiefs, and the case has chained bureaus within state police and new detectives have been assigned. With new eyes on the case, it's bureaus within state police, and new detectives have been assigned. With new eyes on the case, it's really like starting from square one. But a lot has changed since 2003 in a good way, too. There's new DNA technology, new investigative techniques, and improvements in forensic science. It's possible the answers Bush-Weed's family has been waiting for have been tucked away in an evidence locker all along, just waiting for science to catch up.

For Rachel and her entire family, they're not losing hope. They're not letting Butchie be forgotten. If you have information relating to the 2004 homicide of Raymond Butch Weed in Wilton, Maine, please contact Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit South via the tip form in the description of this episode. Or you can call 207-624-7076, extension 9. Thank you for listening to Dark Down East. Sources cited and referenced for this episode are listed at darkdowneast.com.

Please follow Dark Down East on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening right now. And if you could, leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Add a pine tree emoji so I know which episode you came from. I love to hear what you think of the show and what you want to hear next, and reviews are really the best way to support this show and the cases I cover. If you have a personal connection to a case

and you want me to cover it on this podcast, please contact me at hello at darkdowneast.com. Thank you for supporting this show and allowing me to do what I do. I'm honored to use this platform for the families and friends who have lost their loved ones, and for those who are still searching for answers in cold missing persons and homicide cases. I'm not about to let those names or their stories get lost with time. I'm Kylie Lowe, and this is Dark Down East.